Screw-nicking machine



(No Model.) 4 sheen-sheet 2.

G. F. ROPER.

SCREW NIGKING MACHINE.

No. 372,277. Patented Oct. 25, 1887.

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(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet a. G. P. ROPER.

SCREW NIGKING MACHINE.

PatentedOct. 25, 1887.

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0.3. ROPER. SCREW NIGKING MACHINE.

No. 372,277, Patented Oct. 25,1887.

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CHARLES F. ROPEB, OF HOPEDALE, ASSIGNOR TO FREDERICK P. FISH, TRUSTEE, OF CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS.

SCREW-NICKING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part. of Letters Patent No. 372,277, dated October 25, 1887.

Application filed April 18, 1885. Serial No. 162,665. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES F. Borne, of Hopedale, county of Worcester, and State of Massachusetts, haveinvented an Improvement in Screw Slotting or Nicking Machines, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention has for its object to simplify and improve the construction of screw slotting or nicking machines.

In accordance with my inventiona screw the head of which is to be slotted or treated is automatically placed by an ejector in apocket or opening at the periphery of an intermittingly-moving holder, which by its movement carries the said screw into position to haveit-s headflacted upon by a slotting or nicking saw on a shaft parallel with the shaft of the holder, the latter being preferably locked or held in position while one screw is being placed in it and while another screw is being slotted, the raceway supplying the screws automatically to the holder and the slotting or nicking saw, being arranged relatively the one to the other, substantially as will be hereinafter described, whereby one screw will be automatically placed inthe holder while another screw previously placed therein is having its head slotted. My machine also contains a driver to throw the slot-ted screw from the holder.

My improved machine also contains a-rev0lving raceway-having an attached hopper and a cutoff slide operated, preferably, by gravity, the latter cooperating therewith and being provided with a recess, the said cut-off slide in the revolution of the raceway sliding in the hub of the same and carrying the screws singly from the end of the raceway to a central recess or opening in the said hnb,thus placing a screw in position to be acted upon by an ejector which transfers the screw into the holder.

The particular features in which my invention consists will be hereinafter specifically pointed out in theclaims at the end of this specification.

Figure 1 is a rear side elevation of my iniproved'machine; Fig. 2, a front side elevation of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a sectional detail of the hopper and feeding device, the hopper being cut through in the line as m, Fig. 5, and the sleeve and ejector cut centrally, that part of the camhub which holds the ejector in the elevated position shown in the said figure being removed; Fig. 4, adetail of the upper end of the ejector of the feeding device; Fig. 5, a detail showing the under side of the hopper, raceway, and cut-off slide. Fig. 5 is a section of Fig. 5.1m the dotted line 00* 00",- Fig. 6, an under side view of Fig. 5, with the hopper re moved; Fig. 6, a section of Fig. 6 in the line 00 m,- Fig. -7, a face view and section of the disk at the lower end of the sleeve or hollow shaft carrying the hopper; Fig. 8, a detail of the rocking-arm, to be referred to; Fig. 9, a detail showing the mutilated gearattached to the shaft carrying the screw-holder; Fig. 10, the combined index and locking-disk on the same shaft. Fig 11 is a right-hand end view of Fig. -1, the fulcrum-block being partially broken to show the gear held by it. Fig. 11 represents the hopper and raceway in several of its positions during its orbit. Fig. 12 is a detail of the tongued block; Fig. 13, a detail of the fulcrum-block mounted thereon. Fig. 14 is adetail of the saw-carrying rocking arm; and Fig. 15 is a top view of Fig. 1, with the parts above the dottedline yy, Fig. 2, removed.

T he frame-work A, of suitable shape to sustain the working parts, has a standard, A, which has bolted to it by bolt B the tongued block Band thefulcrnm-block B. The tongued block has a tongue, a, (see Fig. 12,) that enters a groove in the standard A, and an ear, a, that receives a collared adj nstingscrew, a", the threaded shank of which screws into the standard so as to adjust the tongued block horizontally, the hole at the center of the said block being of greater diameter than the bolt B.

The fulcrum-block B is provided at its rear side with a projection, a that enters a guidegroove in the face of the tongued block, the

. the roll.

on which is mounted the hub of the saw-carrying rocking arm 0, the upper end of which, in suitable bearings therein, receives the sawarbor C the latter having attached to it the saw C the driving-pinion C, and also the belt-cone (Ji'which receives the driving-belt (not shown) ofthe machine, the said belt being driven from a pulley on a suitable countershaft.

The lower end of the saw-carrying rocking arm 0, pivoted on the pin 0, has an anti-friction roll, I), mounted on an eccentric-stud, I), held in the said arm by a clamping-screw, I). (See Fig. 8.)

The gear'D, by screws b, has secured to it a cam-ring, D, (see dotted lines, Fig. 1, and full lines, Fig. 15;) but, if desired, the said cam may be made integral with the said gear D.

Referring to Fig. 1, the roll I) is in contact with that part of the cam D located between the points 2 and 3, thesaid part beingslightly scroll shape,to thus insure the gradual movement of the arm G and the gradual entrance of the slotting-saw G into the head of the screw as the said scroll part of the cam travels over The slotting-saw commences to enter the head of the screw when the cam-point 2 of thecam D strikes the roll 6, and the said saw retires from the slot of the screw as soon as the end of the cam I) meets the roll, the circular outside portion of the said cam b causing the arm 0 and saw to be held back away from the holder F,to permit the latter to be moved to bring another screw into place. The gear D is engaged by a pinion, D fast on a large gear, D, loose on the fulcrum-stud G, referred to, thelatter gear being engaged and driven by the pinion 0, fast to the saw-arbor C The gear D is fastened on a shaft, D, which, extended through the machine, has at its other end (see Fig. 2) a bevel-gear, D", that engages a bevel-gear, D fast on a shaft, D having a bevel-gear, D", that engages a bevel-gear, D" on a shaft, D, provided with a second bevelgear, D, that engages a bevel-gear, d, fast on a sleeve or hollow shaft, d, extended through a rigid part of the frame-work, and having at its lower end a disk, (1 (see Fig. 7,) which is slotted from its center outward to form a recess for the passage of the head of the screw to be slotted. The-bevel-gear (l at the upper end of the sleeve d has an elongated hub, 01, having its end cut or recessed to form a camsurface. (Shown in Figs. 1 and 3.) The end of the hub receives against it a pin, d extended from the screw-ejector d, placed loosely in the sleeve or hollow shaft d, the said pin being normally held against the end of the hub d by a spring, (1 forked at its end and acting against a shoulder atthe upper end of thesaid ejector, the said shoulder being formed by cutting away part of the upper end of the ejector, the spring being held in place by screws d The spring (1 besides moving the ejector in the direction of the arrow thereon, Fig. 3, to place a screw into the holder F, also acts to prevent the rotation of the ejector with the sleeve or shaft (1. The disk d at the lower end of the sleeve (1 has several holes, (see Fig. 7,) and the hub e of the raceway c has holes 8, to receive screws 9, one of which is shown in Fig. 3, by which to attach the raceway to the said sleeve, so that they will rotate in unison.

The raceway e, in cross section, as shown in Fig. 5, has attached to it, by screws 10, a hopper, 6 shaped as shown in the drawings. This hopper receives the screws to be slotted, and its shape is such that the mass of screws in the hopper will not fall out as the hopper is revolved in an inclined path, it traveling with the sleeve.

In the revolution of the hopper the shanks of some of the screws 8 enter the slot in the raceway, and as the hopper travels in the upper part of its orbit the screws the shanks of which'are in the said slot pass down and enter the slot in the hub e, the shank of the lowermost screw in the raceway entering a recess, 13, in the gravitating cut-oft slide e, weighted or otherwise made heavy enough to slide backward and forward, by reason of its gravity, in a slot in the head 6 of the raceway, the said slot being at right angles, or substantially so, to the slot of the raceway.

The gravitating cutoff slide e at its lower side has two pins or stops, 14 14, which come against the hub of the raceway when the said raceway is in posit-ion to let the said cut-off slide move by gravity.

The shank of a screw, 8, having entered the recess 13, as described, the said cut-off slide, in the further revolution of the hopper in the direction of the arrows, Figs. 5 and 11, will slide in the hub e in the direction of the arrows on the said slides, such movement of the cut-off slide causing the shank of a screw to be placed in line with the recess 16 at the center of the hub of the raceway, and in line with the center opening of the sleeve d and in line with the ejector d. The two recesses 13 and 16 thus brought together constitute a hole of larger diameter than the head of the screw; but the said head will not, however, enter the said hole, but will be sustained by the cut oft slide, as shown in the position No. 2, Fig. 11; but in the further revolution of the hopper and raceway, as the said parts assume the position No. 3, the said screw drops free from the cut-off slide, in the recess of which it was sustained, and the head of the said screw drops into the hole made by thejunetion of the two recesses 13 and 16, all the screws in the raceway thereafter sliding back away from the cut-off slide, leaving but the one screw at the hub of the raceway, as stated. By the time that the hopper reaches the position No. 3 the holder F (yet to be described) is brought into position and is locked with one of its pockets in position to receive the screw next to be slotted, and at such time the pin of the ejector arrives opposite the cam part of the hub d, and the spring at acts to force the ejector into the sleeve Lil far enough to strike the head of the screw held in the hub of the raceway, the ejector causing the said screw to be inserted into the pocket then opposite its point. As the hopper reaches the position No. 4, the gravitating cut-off slide is moved to occup-ythe position therein shown, so that as the hopper again arrives at its first position the endmost screw then in the raceway enters the recess in the cut-off slide.

Preferably a spring jaw or clamp, 18, will be secured to the under side of thehnb of the racehas the index and locking deviccf (see Figs.

15 and l0) secured to it, and next to it the said shaft has on it a mutilated gear, f (shown separately in Fig. 9,) the said gear having one tooth removed from it at three different points, thus leaving on the said gear three separate sections of teeth, each of which are engaged in succession by the toothed segment f, bolted or otherwise attachedto some moving part of the machine, preferably to the gear-D at its rear side, as shown by dotted lines, Fig. 1. The number of the sections of teeth left on the gearf ,will accord with the number of pockets in the holder, the holder herein shown having three pockets and. being rotated one-third of a rotation for each rotation of the gear D..

The combined index and locking devicef has notches 19 in a number corresponding with the pockets of the holder F, and each notch is engaged by a latch, f, pivoted at 20 and acted upon by a spring, .21, the latter causing the point of the latch to enter each notch 19 when oppositeit. The latch f is acted upon by the projection '22 ofthe cam part D whenever the holder F is to be rotated, and the spring 21 efi'ects the engagement of the latch with a notch 19 of the combined index and locking device f as soon as the gearf is to be left at rest or the holder F is to be retained in position with one of its pockets in the line of the center of the head of the raceway to receivea screw.

The holder 'F is composed of a disk having at its outer side at its edge an annular flange or riin having holes in which, as herein shown,

are placed hollow screws, which constitute the.

walls of the pockets for the reception of the screws the heads of which are to be slotted.

Springs 9, attached to the inner side of the said Each driver in succession is madeto act upon the point end of a slotted screw, thus causing the removal of the same from the holder.-

To prevent the slotting-saw from cutting into the head of the screw for a greater distance than demanded by the cam D, I have provided the arm 0 with an adjustable stop,

24:, made as ascrew, provided, preferably, with a suitable check-nut.

To secure vertical adjustment for the saw I have provided the fulcrurn block B with an ear, 25, (see Fig. 15,) in which I haveplaced an annularlygrooved adjusting-screw, 25, the shank of the said screw entering the tongueblock 13. i

The gravitating cut-off slidea very simple and efiicient device, deriving its movement from gravity alone-obviates the employment of'cams and springs, and in operation is more effective than were the cut-offslides operated by a cam and spring, for in the latter plan should a screw be temporarily caught it would be injured orjammed and the machine broken.

The recess 13 in the cutoff-slide is of such size as to receive the threaded shank of the screw loosely and carryit without injury into position opposite the recess 16 in the hub of the raceway, the two recesses 13 and 16, when brought in line, presenting an opening a little larger than the head of the screw.

The pockets or openings in the holder are preferably made to receive and hold the screws loosely, instead of clamping the shanks of the blanks, as in other automatic machines heretofore made. It for any reason the gravitating cut-oft slide should not bring a screw correctly in line with the central opening of the raceway-hub and under the ejector,'the latter, as it is operated by the spring (i will strike the rear side of the cut-ott' slide, but will do no harm, and at the next revolution of the raceway the cut-off slide will be .again operated to correct its former error.

The central or discharge opening of the raceway, the holder, and the slotting-saw are so located with relation each to the other, substantially as described and shown, as to permit one screw to be placed in a pocket of the holder while another screw in another of the said pockets is having its head acted upon or slotted, which results in a great saving in time over what would be effectedwere the holder to receive a screw, carry it into position to be slotted, and then return to receive another screw;

As herein shown, the holder F is moved intermittingly, and is then looked in position while the head of one screw is being treated and while another screw is being supplied to the holder.

The revolving raceway, its attached hopper, ejector, and a cut-off or equivalent may be used to great advantage in' other machines wherein headed blanks or articles are to be selected and presented singly to be operated upon. For instance, the said devices are herein shown as adapted to present screws to a holder to be slotted; but in another application, Serial No. 162,66i, I have shown like devices to present a screw to a holder to have its head shaped. Screws placed in the hopper will, in the revolution of the latter, be collected in the raceway, and that one of the screws nearest the hub 6 will at certain positions of the raceway and hopper slide into the recess of the cut-off slide, and by it will be transferred to the center ofthe said hub e,from which point the screw will be ejected into a pocket in the holder, and will by the latter be carried into position to place its head in the path of movement of the slotting-saw, and the latter, by its actuating cams and devices, will be made to gradually cut into the head of the screw and then to retire therefrom, permitting the holder to be again moved far enpugh to bring the head of another screw into position, and thereafter-the screw previously acted upon will be discharged by a driver, g". 7

One great advantage of the revolving hopper and raceway is that the screws in the raceway are permitted to slide back in the raceway at least once during each revolution of the raceway and prior. to the action or movement of the cut-off slide, thus obviating liability of the screws clogging in the raceway and insuring accurate and reliable presentation of a blank into each pocket of the holder.

I do not desire to limit my invention to the exact construction of devices herein shown, but intend and desire to cover any substantial equivalents for them.

I am aware that unthrcadcd screw-blanks have been automatically fed into a holder and carried by it into position for the head to be acted upon by a saw; but, so far as I am aware, threaded screw-blanks have not been successfully fed automatically from a hopper into a holder to be slotted.

Prior to my invention I am not aware that a holder having holes at its periphery to receive screws and carry them to a saw to be slotted was ever used.

In another application, Serial No. 164,277, filed on the 4th day of May, 1885, I have shown and described a scrcw-slotting apparatus wherein the carrier has a continuouslyrotating motion, and wherein the saw-arbor has only a motion of rotation. The claims in the said application are limited to cover featu res not claimed in the present application.

I claim- 1. The revolving raceway and its attached hopper, combined with the ejector, to operate substantially as described.

2. The revolving raceway and its hub provided with a central opening, and the hopper attached to it, combined with the hollow sleeve or shaft and the ejector therein, substantially as described.

3. The revolving raceway, its hub provided with a central opening, the hopper, the hollow sleeve or shaft to which the raceway is secured, and the cam hub and spring, combined with the ejector, to operate substantially as described.

4. The revolving raceway having a hub provided with a recess or central opening, 16, at one side of the end of the groove in the race way, combined with a cut-off slide having a recess which at one position of the raceway in its revolution is in line with the groove. in the raceway and at other times is in line with the said central opening, to operate substantially as described.

5. The revolving raceway and hopper, and ejector, and gravitating cut-off slide provided with a recess, combined with the holder having pockets for the reception of the screws the heads of which are to be treated, substantially as described.

6. The. holder having a series of pockets to receive the screws, combined with drivers to remove the screws from the pockets, substantially as described.

7. The holder to receive the screws to be slotted, and a gear connected with its shaft, combined with a sector, f, to intermittingly actuate the said gear and its shaft for part of a rotation, substantially as described.

8. The holder to receive the screws to be slotted, and a gear connected-with the shaft of the holder, and a sector to intermittingly actuate the said gear for part of a rotation, combined with the indercplate and with a latch to engage thesame and lock the holder in place, substantially as described.

9. The holder having two or more pockets or openings to receive and carry screws, and a raceway, and ejector to place aserew in one of the pockets or openings of the said holder, combined with a rotating shaft or arbor, and an attached slotting-saw to slotor nick the head of the screw, with a driver to discharge the nicked or slotted screw from the holder, the said parts co-operat-ing each with the other, substantially as described, whereby while one screw is being placed in the holder another screw previously placed in another pocket or opening ofthe said holder is being slotted, substantially as set forth.

10. The holder provided at its periphery with pockets to receive the screws, and having a driver arranged within it to act upon and remove the screw from the pocket of the holder, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof Ihave signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES F. ROPER.

Witnesses:

F. J. DUTCHER, R. A. COOKIE.

IIS 

